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Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive disorder that damages nerve cells in the brain and is one of the main causes of dementia around the world. Current treatments cannot cure the condition. Although antibody-based drugs targeting amyloid β (Aβ) have recently become available, their benefits remain modest. These therapies can also be expensive and may trigger immune-related side effects, underscoring the need for safer, low-cost options that are easier for patients to access.
A new study published in Neurochemistry International reports that researchers from Kindai University and partner institutions found that oral arginine, a naturally occurring amino acid that acts as a safe chemical chaperone, can markedly reduce Aβ aggregation and its toxic effects in animal models of AD. The team noted that although arginine is sold as a dietary supplement, the dose and schedule used in their experiments were designed for research and do not match commercial products.
The project was led by Graduate Student Kanako Fujii and Professor Yoshitaka Nagai from the Department of Neurology, Kindai University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka, along with Associate Professor Toshihide Takeuchi from the Life Science Research Institute, Kindai University, Osaka.
Laboratory and Animal Tests Show Strong Anti-Amyloid Activity
Initial in vitro experiments demonstrated that arginine slows the formation of Aβ42 aggregates in a concentration-dependent fashion. Building on this evidence, the researchers tested oral arginine in two widely used AD models: A Drosophila model, expressing Aβ42 with the Arctic mutation (E22G) An AppNL-G-Fknock-in mouse model, carrying three familial AD mutationsIn both systems, arginine treatment led to a significant drop in Aβ buildup and reduced the harmful effects associated with Aβ exposure.
“Our study demonstrates that arginine can suppress Aβ aggregation both in vitro and in vivo,” explains Prof. Nagai. “What makes this finding exciting is that arginine is already known to be clinically safe and inexpensive, making it a highly promising candidate for repositioning as a therapeutic option for AD.”
Benefits Extend Beyond Amyloid Reduction

In the mouse model, oral arginine lowered amyloid plaque formation and reduced insoluble Aβ42 levels in the brain. Mice receiving arginine also performed better in behavioral assessments and showed decreased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine genes linked to neuroinflammation, a key contributor to AD progression. These results indicate that arginine’s benefits may involve not only preventing aggregation but also providing broader neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects.
“Our findings open up new possibilities for developing arginine-based strategies for neurodegenerative diseases caused by protein misfolding and aggregation,” notes Prof. Nagai. “Given its excellent safety profile and low cost, arginine could be rapidly translated to clinical trials for Alzheimer’s and potentially other related disorders.”
Repurposing Existing Compounds for Alzheimer’s Treatment
This research highlights the advantages of drug repositioning, a strategy that repurposes existing safe compounds for new therapeutic uses. Because arginine is already approved for clinical use in Japan and shows good brain permeability, it may bypass multiple early hurdles that often slow traditional drug development.
The researchers stress that additional preclinical and clinical studies are essential to confirm whether these effects will translate to humans and to determine appropriate dosing strategies. Even so, the results present strong proof of concept that basic nutritional or pharmacological supplementation could reduce amyloid pathology and improve neurological health.
A Cost-Effective Approach With Global Potential
The study deepens scientific understanding of how Aβ aggregation occurs and presents a practical approach that could be implemented at scale. Its findings point to a cost-effective, readily available strategy that may one day support people affected by AD across the globe.
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) (Grant No. 20H05927), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (Grant Nos. 24H00630, 21H02840, 22H02792, and 25K02432), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Super-Highway Program (SHW2023-03), and National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry.

Chemotherapy appears to activate a stress-sensing system inside immune cells. According to new research from Weill Cornell Medicine and Wake Forest University School of Medicine, this reaction sets off inflammation and nerve injury, which may help explain why many people undergoing cancer treatment experience serious and often long-lasting pain.
Up to half of all individuals who receive chemotherapy develop chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). This condition leads to tingling, numbness and pain in the hands and feet, and because effective treatments are limited, many patients must reduce or end their therapy early. The preclinical study, published Oct. 29 in Science Translational Medicine, points to possible ways to prevent or reduce CIPN and suggests that future blood tests could help identify patients most at risk.
“We uncovered a molecular mechanism that maps specifically to immune cells, not neurons,” said co-senior author Dr. Juan Cubillos-Ruiz, the William J. Ledger, M.D. Distinguished Associate Professor of Infection and Immunology in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “This provides strong evidence that chemotherapy-induced neuropathy is not just a nerve issue but an immune-mediated inflammatory process driven by cellular stress responses.”
The research was co-led by Dr. E. Alfonso Romero-Sandoval, professor of anesthesiology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
How a Cellular Stress Pathway Fuels Pain
Earlier work from Dr. Cubillos-Ruiz and colleagues showed that a pathway known as IRE1α-XBP1 acts like a molecular “alarm system” in immune cells, switching on when these cells are under stress. Their previous studies demonstrated that this pathway can drive pain after surgery and inflammation in mouse models.
For the new research, the team used a well-established mouse model that mirrors the nerve damage reported by chemotherapy patients. They found that paclitaxel, a commonly used chemotherapy drug, prompts immune cells to produce large amounts of reactive oxygen species, which are molecules that place cells under stress. This stress response turns on the IRE1α pathway, shifting immune cells into a highly inflammatory state.

These overstimulated immune cells then move toward the dorsal root ganglia — the sensory nerve hubs that link the limbs to the spinal cord — and release inflammatory compounds that irritate and damage nerves. This series of events produces classic CIPN symptoms: pain, sensitivity to cold and loss of nerve fibers.
Blocking the Stress Switch Lessens Nerve Damage
Using genetic tools to silence IRE1α in immune cells prevented the surge of inflammation and reduced CIPN-like behaviors in mice. The researchers also tested a drug that specifically blocks IRE1α and is already in phase 1 clinical trials for cancer. When mice received both chemotherapy and the IRE1α inhibitor, they showed fewer signs of pain typically associated with paclitaxel, and their nerves remained healthier.
“Our findings suggest that targeting IRE1α pharmacologically could mitigate neuropathy induced by taxanes, helping patients continue with their chemotherapy without the negative side effects of nerve damage,” said Dr. Cubillos-Ruiz, who is also co-leader of the Cancer Biology Program at the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell.
Because IRE1α inhibitors are currently being tested in people with advanced solid tumors — where excessive activity of this pathway can contribute to cancer growth and resistance to treatment — the new results suggest these drugs might also shield patients from chemotherapy-related nerve injury. Dr. Cubillos-Ruiz noted that this potential dual action “could meaningfully improve both the effectiveness of cancer treatment and patients’ quality of life.”
Toward a Predictive Blood Test
To explore how the preclinical findings might apply to patients, the team conducted a small pilot study with women receiving paclitaxel for gynecologic cancers. Blood samples collected before and during each chemotherapy cycle revealed that those who later developed severe CIPN showed higher activation of the IRE1α-XBP1 pathway in their circulating immune cells, even before symptoms began.
This early signal suggests that a blood test could eventually help identify patients who are more likely to develop neuropathy, opening the door to preventive steps — potentially including IRE1α inhibitors — before nerve damage sets in.
This research was supported by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health, as well as the U.S. Department of Defense.

With winter on the way and people spending more time inside, the air they breathe becomes a more significant concern. This is especially true during cold and flu season.
Researchers at UBC Okanagan are examining a new air-cleaning device designed to capture airborne pathogens. Their goal is to provide a stronger way to reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses in enclosed settings.
Limitations of Current Ventilation Methods
According to study co-author Dr. Sunny Li, a professor in the School of Engineering, the standard method for reducing infectious disease transmission involves upgrading a building’s ventilation system to manage airflow throughout large areas.
Some systems take things further by sending a stream of clean air directly toward an individual from a fixed location. This setup functions similarly to the air outlets found on passenger airplanes. However, Dr. Li notes several drawbacks. People must remain in the same position for the system to work effectively, or everyone in a shared space would need to use identical equipment at the same time. Constant airflow can also lead to dry eyes and skin, making long-term use uncomfortable.
“Ensuring high air quality while indoors is crucial for mitigating the transmission of airborne disease, particularly in shared environments,” says Dr. Li. “Many Canadians spend nearly 90 percent of their time inside, making indoor air quality a critical factor for health and well-being.”
Why Personalized Ventilation Matters
Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Mojtaba Zabihi, the study’s first author, explains that room configurations and existing heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems can differ widely. These variations make it difficult to implement consistent airflow improvements, which reinforces the need for personalized ventilation options.

“We wanted to develop an innovative system that prevents occupants from inhaling contaminated air while allowing them to use a personalized ventilation system comfortably for extended periods,” he says.
Working within UBC’s Airborne Disease Transmission Research Cluster, the team introduced an induction-removal or jet-sink airflow approach. This method is designed to capture exhaled aerosols before they spread through the room.
A New Approach to Capturing Airborne Particles
Traditional personalized ventilation systems often rely on fast-moving air streams that may feel uncomfortable and become less effective when a person shifts position. The new design takes a different approach by guiding airflow around the user and continuously drawing contaminated particles into a localized purification area.
“Our design combines comfort with control,” says Dr. Zabihi. “It creates a targeted airflow that traps and removes exhaled aerosols almost immediately — before they have a chance to spread.”
To test the system, researchers used computer simulations that modeled breathing, body heat and airflow during a 30-minute consultation scenario. They then compared its performance with standard personal ventilation systems.

Strong Reductions in Exposure Risk
The findings, recently published in Building and Environment, showed a striking difference. The new device lowered the chance of infection to 9.5 percent. By comparison, the risk was 47.6 percent with a typical personal setup, 38 percent with a personal ventilation system using an exhaust design, and 91 percent under regular room ventilation.
When positioned optimally, the device prevented inhalation of pathogens during the first 15 minutes of exposure. Only 10 particles out of 540,000 reached another person, and simulations indicated the system removed up to 94 percent of airborne pathogens.
“Traditional personalized ventilation systems can’t adapt when people move or interact,” explains study co-author Dr. Joshua Brinkerhoff. “It’s a smart, responsive solution for spaces like clinics, classrooms or offices where close contact is unavoidable.”
Future Potential for Safer Indoor Spaces
Dr. Brinkerhoff adds that the study illustrates how airflow engineering, not just filtration, can significantly enhance indoor air quality and safety. The next steps involve refining the system for use in larger rooms and testing physical prototypes in clinical and public environments.
As a member of Canada’s National Model Codes Committee on Indoor Environment, Dr. Zabihi hopes this research will play a role in shaping future ventilation guidelines, ultimately helping create healthier and safer indoor spaces for everyone.

Move over, colonoscopies — researchers writing in ACS Sensors report that they have created tiny microspheres filled with bacteria that can sense the presence of blood, a key sign of gastrointestinal disease. These microspheres function like miniature “pills” that are swallowed and include magnetic particles so they can be easily collected from stool. After passing through mouse models with colitis, the sensors detected gastrointestinal bleeding within minutes. The team notes that the same bacterial system could eventually be engineered to identify other gut-related conditions.
“This technology provides a new paradigm for rapid and non-invasive detection of gastrointestinal diseases,” says Ying Zhou, a co-author of the study.
Why Easier, Noninvasive Gut Diagnostics Are Needed
In the U.S., millions of people live with colorectal cancer or inflammatory bowel disease, including colitis, which can lead to intestinal bleeding, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Colonoscopy remains the gold-standard diagnostic tool. It relies on an endoscope, a camera-tipped flexible device that is carefully guided through the large intestine. Although it provides valuable medical insight, many individuals hesitate to undergo the procedure because it requires extensive preparation and can feel invasive. To develop an alternative, Zhou, Bang-Ce Ye, Zhen-Ping Zou and colleagues are exploring the use of bacteria that detect biomarkers such as heme, a component of red blood cells that signals bleeding inside the gut.
Building Bacterial Sensors That Survive Digestion
The team previously designed bacteria that emit light when they encounter heme, but the early versions broke down during digestion and were difficult to retrieve afterward. In the new study, the researchers protected the bacteria by enclosing them, along with magnetic particles, inside small droplets of sodium alginate, a thickening ingredient commonly found in foods. This produced sturdy hydrogel microspheres that travel through the digestive tract and can be removed from stool with a magnet. Initial laboratory tests confirmed that the hydrogel shield allowed the bacteria to survive simulated digestive conditions while still letting heme reach the sensor and trigger a glow.
Testing the Microspheres in Mouse Models of Colitis
The researchers then gave the microspheres orally to mice with varying levels of colitis, ranging from no disease activity to severe inflammation. After the spheres moved through the gastrointestinal tract, the team retrieved them using a magnet and reported three key findings: Microsphere cleanup and signal analysis required about 25 minutes. The sensors produced stronger light signals as disease severity increased, indicating higher levels of heme in animals with more advanced colitis. Tests in healthy mice showed that the microspheres were biocompatible and safe.

Future Potential for Human Testing and Disease Monitoring
Although the technology has not yet been evaluated in humans, the researchers suggest that encapsulated bacterial sensors could one day help diagnose gastrointestinal diseases, monitor treatment responses and track changes in disease over time.
The authors acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and Development Program of China, and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation.

Former cabinet minister Lord Michael Gove has apologised on behalf of the then-government and Conservative Party for “mistakes made” during the coronavirus pandemic.In her long-awaited report published, Baroness Hallett says Boris Johnson, the prime minister at the time, oversaw a “toxic and chaotic” culture in No 10 during Covid.Lord Gove told the BBC’s Today programme some “attitudes” in Downing Street had been “far from ideal” but added that in a crisis “the business of government can’t be carried out in the manner of a Jane Austen novel”. He also said an earlier lockdown would have been “wiser” but questioned the report’s assertion that it would have meant fewer deaths.Responding to the report, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the government would learn lessons from the report and was already “taking measures to make sure that, not just the NHS but the government as a whole, is prepared for any number of eventualities”.The 800-page inquiry report is highly critical of government decision-making, and says implementing a Covid lockdown a week earlier could have saved 23,000 lives in the first wave in England – although it does not suggest that the overall death toll would have been reduced.It also says lockdowns could have been avoided if the government had introduced restrictions such as social distancing earlier and concludes lockdowns “only became inevitable because of the acts and omissions of the four governments” in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The report describes February 2020 as a “lost month” and says the government’s lack of urgency was “inexcusable”. It says there was a failure to learn lessons from the first Covid wave and that restrictions in autumn 2020 were introduced too slowly. At Christmas of the same year, the inquiry argues the governments failed to take action “until infection levels were critical”.Johnson, who was prime minister between 2019 and 2022 and set up the inquiry, is accused in the report of failing to make decisions quickly enough in autumn 2020 – and of repeatedly changing his mind.He has been contacted for a comment.Lord Gove rejected a suggestion that the conclusions of the Covid report would put an end to any future political ambitions Johnson may have. He said Johnson’s style of decision-making “may not be to everyone’s taste” but added he was “wrestling with an enormously difficult question about the curtailment of liberty and the maintenance of access to healthcare”.”More than that, without his drive we would not have had his vaccine roll-out that ensured we were the first country to put jabs in arms.”Dominic Cummings, a senior aide in Downing Street at the time, is singled out for criticism in the report which suggests he displayed “destabilising behaviour” and contributed to a “culture of fear” that “poisoned the atmosphere”. It also said the loudest voices in government prevailed – and many were ignored “to the detriment of good decision-making”.Cummings, who left No 10 at the end of 2020, accused the inquiry of enabling “a vast rewriting of history”.He said it was “important for the public to realise that on most of the big questions, the ‘experts’ including the senior scientists were completely wrong” in the early months of 2020. Lord Gove said Cummings had been responsible for ensuring data was “accurately and thoroughly interrogated”. He also said the report noted Cummings’ interventions had been “critical to putting in place the measures necessary to suppress the virus”. Asked about the culture in Downing Street, he said: “It’s the case that we were dealing with, as everyone in the world was, an unprecedented crisis… and of course, under pressure with imperfect information, mistakes are made, voices are raised.”Rishi Sunak, who was chancellor during the pandemic, told BBC 5 Live’s Matt Chorley that both the government and scientists had been “operating in a highly uncertain environment”. “I think we do need to view the decisions taken through that lens, but it’s important that lessons are learned so that we can be better prepared if there’s ever another pandemic.”Baroness Hallett also criticised Sir Chris Wormald – he is currently the cabinet secretary, the most senior civil servant in the government, but during the pandemic was the permanent secretary at the health department.She said he had failed to take action to “rectify the overenthusiastic impression” given by then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock about the ability of the department to deal with the pandemic.Asked on Radio 4’s Today programme, if Sir Chris should stay in his job, given the report’s criticism, Science Secretary Liz Kendall said “yes” adding that he was doing “excellent work across government including learning the lessons from this pandemic”.

Immunotherapy is designed to help a patient’s own immune cells seek out and remove tumor cells. In a preclinical model, researchers at the Institut Pasteur and Inserm succeeded in triggering a strong anti-tumor immune reaction by altering how malignant B cells die. Their work showed that a triple-therapy combination could be effective against blood cancers that involve B cells, including certain leukemias and lymphomas.
The findings were recently reported in Science Advances.
How Necroptosis Strengthens Immune Responses
Immunotherapy represents a major shift in cancer treatment, as it relies on the body’s natural defenses to identify and eliminate tumor cells. Immune cells act like vigilant sentries, moving through tissues and detecting remaining cancer cells that could lead to relapse. Among the new approaches being explored is a form of programmed cell death called necroptosis. Unlike apoptosis, which quietly removes cells, necroptosis produces signals that draw immune cells to the area. These signals help prompt the immune system to attack and clear any surviving tumor cells.
Scientists in the Dynamics of Immune Responses Unit (a joint Inserm/Institut Pasteur unit) investigated whether necroptosis could help treat blood cancers. Their initial work showed that malignant B cells do not readily undergo necroptosis because they lack the MLKL protein, which is essential for this process.
Triple Therapy Overcomes a Key Barrier
To address this limitation, the team used a combination of three drugs already approved for clinical use. This combination successfully triggered necroptosis in malignant B cells and produced a powerful immune response that completely eliminated leukemia in a preclinical model. “The triple therapy we used forces cancer cells to die in a way that activates the immune system,” says Philippe Bousso, Inserm Research Director and Head of the Institut Pasteur’s Dynamics of Immune Responses Unit.

Real-Time Imaging Reveals Immune Activation
The researchers relied on an advanced intravital imaging method to watch immune cells interact with cancer cells in real time. This allowed them to directly observe how different forms of cell death influenced immune behavior.
“This novel immunotherapy strategy, successfully tested in preclinical models, turns tumor cells into triggers for the immune system, pointing to a potential therapeutic avenue for certain cancers, such as lymphomas or leukemias affecting B cells,” explains Philippe Bousso.
“By changing the way cancer cells die, we can harness the support of our immune system to fight against the tumor,” he adds.
The research received support from the institutions noted above, along with the European Research Council (ERC) and the ARC Foundation for Cancer Research.

The circumstances which led to the Welsh government’s decision to impose a Christmas 2020 Covid lockdown across Wales were “inexcusable”, says the chair of the UK public inquiry into the pandemic.Baroness Hallet said Welsh ministers had failed to take “decisive action” against an “entirely foreseeable” Covid variant resulting in the lockdown.Prior to the lockdown, she said ministers had relaxed measures “more quickly than scientists advised”. Parts of England also went into lockdown at the same time as Wales. First Minister Eluned Morgan said the government would take time to read the report and consider and act on its recommendations.Hallet made the comment in a video statement following the inquiry’s publication of its second report which considered the response of all four governments across the UK to the pandemic.The report said the Welsh government’s initial response to Covid was “inadequate”, with ministers in Cardiff “overly reliant” on the UK government to take the lead.First minister Eluned Morgan welcomed the report and said the Welsh government “was committed to learning lessons from the pandemic” and would work with the other UK governments over the coming months.”It is important that we remember the immense loss and suffering of so many people due to Covid-19. Today, our thoughts must first and foremost be with them,” she added.Former first minister Mark Drakeford defended the government’s handling of the pandemic, saying it “acted in the best way that we were able”.In a new video statement, Baroness Hallet said from August to December 2020, Wales had the “highest age standardised mortality rate of the four nations”.”It’s likely that this was a result of a combination of failed local restrictions, a firebreak lockdown that was imposed too late despite exponential growth of the virus, and the decision to relax measures more quickly than scientists advised.”She said that by late 2020 Wales, as well as the rest of the UK, “failed to take decisive action in response to the entirely foreseeable Alpha variant”.”Instead, it pressed on with plans for relaxing measures over Christmas, while cases grew rapidly, only to change course on the 19 December, when levels of infection became critical,” she said. Baroness Hallett added that the “mistakes” of February and March 2020 were repeated and “a return to lockdown had once again become unavoidable”. “That was inexcusable.”Originally the Welsh government had planned to relax rules from 23 to 27 December 2020 to allow people to celebrate with loved-ones but these were scrapped on 19 December 2020 with meeting up limited to Christmas Day.In announcing the measures, which meant people had to stay at home and only go out for essential reasons, Drakeford said hundreds of people had contracted a new, “more aggressive” variant of the virus in Wales.Similar measures had also been introduced by the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson in parts of England.

A research team led by Dr. Ke Huang at Texas A&M University has created a patch designed to support heart repair following a heart attack. This device uses a specialized microneedle system that delivers a therapeutic molecule directly into damaged heart tissue, encouraging healing while limiting effects on the rest of the body.
The biodegradable patch contains extremely small needles filled with microscopic particles carrying interleukin-4 (IL-4), a molecule recognized for its role in immune regulation. When placed on the heart’s surface, the microneedles dissolve and release IL-4 straight into the injured region, helping create conditions that support recovery.
Huang and his colleagues reported their results in Cell Biomaterials, with funding from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.
“This patch acts like a bridge,” said Huang, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. “The microneedles penetrate the outer layer of the heart and allow the drug to reach the damaged muscle underneath, which is normally very hard to access.”
How Heart Damage Progresses After a Heart Attack
A heart attack deprives heart muscle cells of oxygen and nutrients, causing many of them to die. As a protective response, the body forms scar tissue in the damaged area. Although this scarring helps maintain structural stability, it does not contract like healthy heart muscle. As a result, the remaining muscle must work harder over time, which can contribute to heart failure.
Huang’s team hopes their patch can interrupt this progression. By bringing IL-4 directly to the site of injury, the patch encourages immune cells known as macrophages to shift from a pro-inflammatory mode to one that supports healing. This change can limit scar development and improve long-term outcomes.

“Macrophages are the key,” Huang explained. “They can either make inflammation worse or help the heart heal. IL-4 helps turn them into helpers.”
Why Localized Delivery Matters
Earlier attempts to use IL-4 for repairing heart tissue involved injecting the molecule into the bloodstream, but circulating it throughout the body caused unwanted effects in other organs. The new patch addresses this issue by focusing the treatment precisely where it is needed.
“Systemic delivery affects the whole body,” he said. “We wanted to target just the heart.”
Unexpected Cellular Responses Linked to Healing
One of the most notable discoveries from the study was a shift in the behavior of heart muscle cells after receiving treatment. According to Huang, these cells became more responsive to signals from surrounding tissues, particularly endothelial cells that line blood vessels. This improved communication may play an important role in longer-term recovery. “The cardiomyocytes weren’t just surviving, they were interacting with other cells in ways that support recovery,” he said.

The team also found that the patch reduced inflammatory signals coming from endothelial cells, which can contribute to further heart damage. In addition, they detected increased activity in a pathway known as NPR1, which supports blood vessel health and overall heart function.
Future Versions Aim for Minimally Invasive Use
At the moment, placing the patch requires open-chest surgery, but Huang hopes to create a less invasive method. He imagines a design that could be delivered through a small tube, making the treatment easier and more practical in clinical settings.
“This is just the beginning,” he said. “We’ve proven the concept. Now we want to optimize the design and delivery.”
Huang is now partnering with Xiaoqing (Jade) Wang, assistant professor of statistics in the College of Arts and Sciences. Together they are developing an AI model that maps immune responses and helps guide future immunomodulatory therapeutic delivery.

7 hours agoShareSaveFergus WalshMedical EditorShareSaveGettyA major prostate cancer screening trial aimed at finding the best way to detect the disease has been launched in the UK. The first letters have been sent out from GPs inviting men to join the study, the biggest of its kind in decades.The £42 million Transform trial is funded by Prostate Cancer UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.Hashim Ahmed, trial chief investigator, said: “Transform is truly game-changing… the start of recruitment today marks a pivotal step towards getting the results men urgently need to make prostate cancer diagnosis safe and more effective so that we can unlock the potential of prostate cancer screening in the UK.”The trial will recruit men aged 50-74, with a lower age limit of 45 for black men, who have twice the risk of developing and dying from prostate cancer compared with white men.It won’t be possible to volunteer for the trial, but Prostate Cancer UK is strongly encouraging anyone who receives a letter to take part.The trial will look at how rapid MRI scans of the prostate could be combined with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood tests in order to improve the accuracy of cancer diagnosis.Currently, men over 50 can request a PSA test, which looks for abnormally high levels of protein in the blood, but this is unreliable, picking up many prostate cancers that would never need treatment, and missing others that do.The trial will also use spit tests, which extract DNA from saliva, to see if this is more accurate than PSA readings.Matthew Hobbs, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said current diagnostics methods don’t find enough aggressive cancers, and cause too much harm.”We hear from men who were diagnosed late, whose lives may have been saved if they’d been screened or tested earlier. We also hear from a lot of men who have suffered incontinence or impotence because of treatments they had,” said Mr Hobbs. “Some of those men didn’t need to have those treatments, and that’s the harm that we need to try to avoid.”‘If we want to stop 12,000 men dying early every year, it’s the obvious solution’ Danny Burkey, 60, from west Yorkshire, is terminally ill with prostate cancer. By the time his condition was diagnosed four years ago, it had already spread to his bones.The former teacher and father of three told the BBC that if men were offered regular screening from the age of 50, his disease might have been caught when it was still curable.”I think that a screening programme would be a game changer. If you want men to not be in the position I’m in, and if we want to stop 12,000 men dying early every year, it’s the obvious solution.”Danny BurkeyThe opening of the trial comes a week before the National Screening Committee (NSC) – an expert body that advises the NHS – is due to announce whether to recommend the introduction of screening for the disease, the most common cancer in men in the UK.Previously, the NSC had concluded that the harms of screening outweighed the benefits.Initial results of the Transform trial are due in around two years, after which it will be expanded by up to 300,000 men across the UK.

15 hours agoShareSavePaul Seddon,Political reporter and Sam Francis,Political reporterShareSavePA MediaBoris Johnson oversaw a “toxic and chaotic” culture within government that led to poor Covid decision-making, the inquiry into the pandemic response has found.In a much-awaited report, inquiry chair Baroness Hallett said the former prime minister should have responded more urgently to the developing crisis.She also criticised his style of communication, which failed to “convey a proper sense of caution” and undermined official health messaging, she said.Johnson’s former top adviser Dominic Cummings was also singled out as a “destabilising influence” and former health secretary Matt Hancock was criticised in the 800-page report.Former judge Baroness Hallett said Cummings, who dramatically left No 10 in late 2020 after internal battles over his role, contributed to a “culture of fear” that “poisoned the atmosphere” in Downing Street.Cummings “strayed far from the proper role” of an adviser, she added, and tried to make “key decisions” in Johnson’s place – a situation the former prime minister appeared happy with, she wrote.He also “materially contributed to the toxic and sexist workplace culture” including using “offensive, sexualised and misogynistic language” in messages, the inquiry found.Cummings was also often a catalyst for action and was among the first political figures to demand strategy meetings and modelling to deal with Covid, the report found.Alongside civil servants, Cummings helped drive the creation of the Covid-19 Taskforce in the Cabinet Office, which the report said improved the coordination of the government’s response. Hancock, who was in charge of the health department through much of the pandemic, developed a reputation in Downing Street for “overpromising and underdelivering,” she added.She noted there were concerns “about Hancock’s truthfulness and reliability in UK government meetings” and that civil servants had had to “double-check what we were being told”.Baroness Hallett said it was essential that leaders are “candid” about the scale of problems during an emergency but Hancock “did not adopt such an approach” to the crisis.Johnson’s leadership style compounded problems as he “oscillated” on restrictions, enabling the virus to spread at pace, the report said.While acknowledging the “profound” decisions he faced, Baroness Hallett concluded he delayed making choices when “timely decision-making was essential”.Johnson’s “expressions of over-optimism” about the impact of Covid also undermined official health advice, the report says – including speaking about shaking hands in hospital the day before launching a handwashing campaign.Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle and the rule-breaking “partygate” gatherings also “undermined public confidence and increased the risk of people not complying with the rules designed to protect them,” Baroness Hallett said.Cummings has hit back at the inquiry, accusing it of a “vast rewriting of history” and failing to challenge the version of events put forward by scientists.In a social media statement published shortly before the report was published, the former aide added: “The ‘experts’ were almost totally wrong, and the entire system has worked to cover this up since then, including the inquiry”.Johnson has yet to respond to the report.Hancock, who resigned from the health role in June 2021 after breaching social distancing guidance by kissing a colleague and did not stand for re-election at last year’s election, is also yet to respond to the report.The report is the conclusion of the second chapter of the long-running inquiry, which examined how politicians around the UK managed the response to the virus.Baroness Hallett found the UK was too late to consider the idea of a lockdown to suppress the disease in 2020, by which time the need for stringent restrictions had become “unavoidable”.But she also concluded a lockdown “might have been shorter or not necessary at all” had initial steps to restrict its spread been taken sooner.Neither the UK government nor the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had a strategy for exiting the first lockdown, and didn’t give “enough attention to the possibility of a second wave”, the report said. The “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme, which encouraged people back to restaurants, “might have contributed to a belief that the pandemic was effectively over” even though ministers knew further waves were likely.